The Tale of the Orange Hokage
by b.b. miller
Summary: Starts when Naruto is returning from his training. Will skip forward quickly until about 5 years post war. NaruSaku. Lemons in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there everyone! Sorry again for the long absents believe me I will be continuing the old stories as soon as I get a chance for those who are still interested but for now I had an idea to write this! Anyway I do not own any Naruto characters from the manga or otherwise. I do however claim any OC's that I will most likely scatter as supporting characters throughout the fic. I cannot promise anyone how often I will be updating this due to the fact I will be starting college next week. This is my first Naruto fic so if anyone had any ideas or suggestions feel free to PM me. No flames please leave that in the comments. Any as always this is B.B. Miller please enjoy the fic!**

Approx. 5 years after the war.

Naruto was standing atop the Hokage mansion alongside Tsunade and the Konoha 11 facing the entire population of Konohagakure. As the elders began their speech welcoming the new hokage into office Naruto had a faint smile on his face

"Can you see me dad? Can you see me Ero-sensi? Can you see me Jiji? I finally did it!" Naruto thought to himself as he stood behind the two elders.

"And now everyone I know present to you are newest hokage! Uzumaki Naruto!" The elders said in unison.

Naruto walked up next to the two elders and turned to face them as they handed him the signature hat that all kage wore. He gave a respectful bow and place the hat on his head.

"Congratulations young man please lead and protect this village for years to come." Koharu said as she gave a bow to the new hokage.

Xxxxxxx

7 years prior

Xxxxxx

Naruto and Jiraiya were walking down a path of their way back to Konoha after their 2 and a halve years of training. Jiraiya looked down at his young pupil and saw a look of excitement and nervousness on his face.

"Ero-sensei, do you think that I can become hokage?" Naruto asked the great perverted toad sage.

"Well I'd say that you have a better chance at becoming hokage than most people I know my young friend." Jiraiya responded. "But I get the feeling you already knew that is there something else bothering you?"

".." Naruto said nothing at first not sure if he should tell his sensei what was really going through his mind. Sure the hokage thing was part of what was plaguing the young shinobi but the main thing that was on Naruto's mind was a certain pink hair kunoichi that had stolen Naruto's heart so long ago.

"Thinking about Sakura again are you?" Jiraiya asked knowing his student well.

"Yeah…. I just don't know if there is any way I can get her to really see me the way that I see her." Naruto responded glumly.

"Well only one way to find out. Just make sure you don't do anything to stupid when you see her again after almost three years." Jiraiya said, "I would excpicially keep that little sexy jutsu down to a minimum around her."

Naruto laughed slightly at the last comment think of what might happen if he would do that after her not seeing him for several years. The two shinobi remained silent for the rest of their trip. After about 30 minutes or so the gate of Konoha slowly came into view. A large grin slowly formed on Naruto's face as he switched into a full sprint towards the village.

"_Well he is certainly exited" _Jiraiya thought to himself as he watched his young protégé sprint towards his home village.

"Hey there!" Naruto said.

"Well look what we have here it's been quite some time Uzumaki." The man at the gate said as he allowed Naruto entrance.

Naruto began walking taking in the village once again after his long absence. As he brought his view back towards a forward view he saw a certain very lazy looking shinobi walking his way next to a blonde sand kunoichi sporting a large fan on her back.

"Hey there Shikamaru! Temari!" Naruto exclaimed, "Long time no see!"

"Well holy shit if it isn't the Baka himself! Naruto it's about damn time you came back!" Shikamaru stated. "_Troublesome, I was getting used to the quite in the village but it wasn't the same without the blonde dumbass."_

"Well it looks like the little big mouth short stuff finally grew up! It's good to see you Naruto!" Temari stated.

"I would love to hear about how the training trip went but I have to escorted the annoying blonde here back to her village. It's troublesome but it's an order." Shikamaru stated lazily barley dogging a kunai aimed for his back.

"Come now you lazy shit you know you love being around me." Temari said.

"Troublesome." The Nara said as he looked back at Naruto, "welcome back! You'll have to fill me in when I get back."

"See ya later then." Naruto said waving as he continued into the village.

Naruto quickly jumped up onto a nearby pole as so he could look over the village which he missed so dearly. As Naruto was doing this a certain pink haired kunoichi was on her way back from picking up the daily report from the front gate now with the knowledge that Naruto had returned to the village. She was begging to wonder where her blonde friend had gone till she saw the orange perched atop a pole seemingly lost in thought. She made her way over to him quickly as she began a bunch of strange thoughts ran through her mind.

"I wonder if he still likes me" Sakura thought to herself as she looked up at the young shinobi, "what are you thinking what does it matter."

Sakura was trying to rid herself of these thoughts as she announced her presence, "Hey Naruto! Long time no See!" Sakura shouted at her friend

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto shouted as he jumped down from his vantage point, "it's been to long! I really missed you!" Naruto said.

Sakura paused for a minute to look at the man in front of her. Naruto had significantly grown since she had last saw him, and now that she was up close she had to say he looked quite handsome.

"Wow Naruto I have to say time as treated you nicely, you're actually taller than me now." "_And good looking" _she thought the last part to herself as she blushed slightly looking at her friend.

"Wow thanks Sakura-Chan!" Naruto said, "umm… you look… um… even better than I remember..." Naruto said scratching the back of his head nervously at that last part.

The complement made Sakura blush slightly as she looked towards her feet trying to hide it from Naruto.

"Thanks Naruto..." Sakura said, "well I guess you should be going to Lady Tsunade to let her know you retuned I walk with you and you can fill me in on your trip!" Sakura said trying to regain her composure.

The two made their way to the hokage tower as Naruto began to fill Sakura in on everything that had happened whilst he was away with Jiraiya. Sakura on the other hand was not listening to intently on what Naruto was saying as other thoughts were creeping into her head. She could tell the blonde knuckle head she once knew had matured quite a bit since he departed but the old Naruto was still there. The biggest thing she had noticed was how much he had changed physically. Naruto was now standing almost a head taller than Sakura, he was also sporting his new outfit that still had the trademark orange but with a good bit of black mixed in. Sakura had liked the change in attire as his old outfit was much too obnoxious for her taste. She had also noticed he seemed much more toned and physically fit as she could see his build through his clothing.

"_Wow, he sure had changed, thankfully not too much." _ She thought to herself as she continued to half listen to the tale of his training.

"So anyway after Ero-sensei messed with the seal on me I blacked out and when I came to he was all bloody and we had to take him to a medic." Naruto finished as he met Sakura's stare, "Hey Sakura can I ask you something?"

"Of course Naruto." Sakura responded.

"After we go see Ba-Chan would you want to come and get some ramen with me? My treat!" Naruto said hopefully.

Sakura looked at him for a moment and thought about the question. She supposed that it couldn't hurt any to let the blonde treat her to some ramen and the thought of going on a "date" with him made her heat up a bit.

"Sure thing!" Sakura responded with a warm smile

"Really?! Yeaaaah!" Naruto exclaimed as he began to jump up and down in exitment.

"_There's the Naruto I remember." _She thought as she giggled at his antics.

The remainder of the walk consisted of Sakura filling in Naruto on her training with Lady Tsunade which Naruto was quite impressed by. As they made their way Naruto couldn't help but notice how much Sakura had grown as well in his time away. Though her outfit stayed mostly the same he could definatly tell that she had a much more feminine and was even more beautiful, or "sexy" as Jiraiya would say, than he had remembered. He was now barley listening to what she was saying as he took in the beautiful girl walking beside him. After a few minuets they arrived at the Hokage tower and made their way up to Tsunade's office.

"Good morning Sakura." Lady Tsunade said as Sakura enter the office.

"Good morning milady" Sakura responded, "something came in this morning that you need to see!"

"Oh and what would that be?" The hokage instisted.

Naruto then entered the office and saw the look of joy rise on to Tsunade's face.

"Hey Ba-Chan!" Naruto shouted as he looked at his pseudo-grandma.

"Well isn't this a surprise looks like the trash man brought us something back." Tsunade teased.

"Good to see you too." Naruto groaned as he watch Tsunade laugh at her own antics.

"Welcome back Naruto I trust your journey was successful?" she inquired.

"Yeah! I'm a whole lot stronger now! I'll be hokage in no time!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

Sakura smiled at her friend noting how much she missed him. She was happy he hadn't changed too much and that he was still the little Baka that dreamed of being hokage.

"We'll just see about that!" Tsunade said with an evil grin on her face.

Naruto knew that look as he began to inch away not sure what to expect.

"Jiraiya sent me a message a few days ago stating that you two would be returning so I arranged to have you participate in the Jonin examination you pass and then I might just believe you." Tsunade said.

"But I'm still a guenin." Naruto stated dryly.

"I pulled a few strings, seeing as some of your friends are well ahead of you." Tsunade said, "And it might interest you to know that Gara has been named Kazekage."

"What! Well I'm not going to let him show me up!" Naruto shouted.

Though he meant what he said in truth he was truly happy for his friend. He thought back to when he had saved Gara from himself and had now knew that he truly had people there for him now.

As they all said their goodbyes Naruto and Sakura made their way out of Tsunade's office and began to head towards ichiraku's. the two had walked in a comfortable silence for the majority of the way which was not all that far of a walk.

"Hey old man!" Naruto said as he greeted the old shop owner.

"Well if it isn't our favorite customer! How have you been Naruto?" teuchi asked.

"Great I've gotten really strong!" Naruto said.

"Hey their Naruto!" Ameym said as she approached the two teens.

"Hey! Great to see ya!" Naruto said

"So what will it be for you two?" Amaye asked.

"One bowl of miso please!" Naruto said

"The same." Sakura said with a smile at watching Naruto's antics.

After they received their food they sat in relative silence until Naruto said something that caught Sakura off guard.

"I'm still intending on keeping my promise! I know how much Sasuke means to you." Naruto stated, "I never go back on my word!"

Sakura looked at Naruto in shock. After all this time he was still trying to keep his promise to her. As she looked at the blonde she realized that she couldn't ask for a better friend in the entire world. Though she had given up on Sasuke as to trying to be any more than friends long ago, she still wanted dearly to see him return to the village. She smiled as a tear dropped from her eye.

"Thanks, that means a lot." She said as she pulled him in for a hug to hide her tears from the blonde.

"Well look what we have here!" Said an all too familiar voice.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" they said in unison as they jumped in shock.

"Well I heard that you were back in town Naruto so I went looking for Sakura to let her know but it would seem you two have found each other, in more ways than one." The white haired Jonin stated.

Both Naruto and Sakura turned red at this as they tried to explain what happened.

"It's not like that Kakashi-Sensei! We were just…" Sakura started.

"Relax you two I'm just teasing, anyways I have some paperwork to fill out so I will be seeing you later." He stated lazily.

"Wait Sensei I brought something back for you." Naruto said as he handed Kakashi a book from his bag, "it's the latest one I know you love them! It's not even released yet!"

Kakashi had to hold back his excitement as he grabbed the book.

"Well I must say thank you Naruto now I must be going lots of paperwork to finish!" he said as he shisuined away.

"I guess I'll be going to, I have to get back to the hospital for my shift! Ill see you later Naruto!" Sakura said as she got up to leave

"Later Sakura-Chan!" He waved to the girl who had stolen his heart.

**And that's a wrap! Hope I didn't do too bad but it should be pretty decent.**

**First off I would like to say (have to) that I own nothing from Naruto all rights go to their respective owners and so on.**

**Secondly I will say that I will try to stick a close as possible to cannon for this story though some chapters may jump completely off base.**

**Thirdly this will be a NARUSAKU pairing I have nothing against any other ships this is my personal favorite so please don't try and persuade me if you don't like the ship don't ride the ship (read)**

**Lastly thank you to those who read this and please leave comments on anything that I can improve upon I am well aware that some things will be misspelled such as names and some of the jappanesse names for certain techniques so please inform me if you pick up on any of these so I can avoid these issues in later chapters.**

**One more thing. Some chapters later on will get raunchy. I will say in the name of said chapters so if you don't like the dirty stuff don't read it. If you do then your in for a treat.**

**Fav/follow!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there again everyone! Thank everyone so much for such a positive reaction! I wasn't expecting this to shoot up so fast! But you all have proven me wrong. Well here is the next instalment. Hope you all enjoy the fic!**

Naruto was sitting in his apartment staring out the window his mind flooding with thoughts of the past few months since he had returned from training. He had now been back in Konoha for about six months and so much had already happened in this short time. He had passed the Jonin exams and was promoted after only a month of being back. He had also was spending time catching up with everyone in the village to see how everyone had been. But the main thought on his mind now is this new assignment that had been proposed to him by lady Tsunade.

_Flashback_

_Naruto entered Tsunade's office after being summoned by her for a reason that no one seemed to know._

"_You called for me Baa-Chan?" Naruto asked._

"_Will you ever stop calling me that Baka?" She inquired._

"_If I did you would worry about me and think there was something wrong or that I was an imposter." He responded with a goofy grin on his face. _

"_I suppose your right about that, anyway I called you here to ask if you wanted to take on a new assignment." Tsunade stated._

"_What would this assignment be?" Naruto asked curiously._

"_I would like you to become a Jonin sensei." She stated calmly._

_Naruto froze at that unsure of what to say. Sure he wanted to but he just wasn't sure he was ready for it. He hadn't even been a jonin for a year._

"_You have a week to come up with answer, if you decide to do so I would ask that you go to Iruka and let him know." She said._

"_Ok I will do so." Naruto said as he walked out the Office._

_He walked through Konoha and mused this thought unsure what to do. As he walked a familiar face walked by and notice the strained look on Naruto's face._

"_Something troubling you their Naruto?" Shikamaru said as he stopped to see what was on the blonde's mind._

"_Oh nothing it's just I don't know if I should accept Baa-Chan's offer of becoming a Jonin-sensei." Naruto said as he looked at the Nara._

"_Well I could see why she would ask you, you always had the ability to change people and make them stronger and more confident, though I would worry about you teaching them some of your little tricks." Shikamaru stated lazily thinking back onto his blonde friend's little "sexy jutsu" and nearly fainted on thinking of a bunch of guenin walking around konoha and preforming it._

"_Hey! So what if they know a few gags!" Naruto snapped_

"_Whatever Naruto just think about it, you managed to change Gara from a psychotic killer into the kazekage of his village." The genius of Konoha said, "It might not be that bad if a few ninja picked up on you determination though and you loyalty just think it through their buddy."_

"_Ok, I'll see you later laze-ass." Naruto said _

"_Fuck you" The Nara said in good humor, "See you around Naruto."_

_They waved to each other as they continued on their way. Naruto was still unsure but was more confident after hearing that from one of the most intelligent shinobi in the five great nations._

_End flashback._

Naruto continued to think as to what his next move should be. He was now convinced but was still not all too sure. He need some more advice and could only think of one person. Sakura. He knew she would know what to do. Naruto arose from his couch and made his way to the hospital to see his pink haired team mate. It didn't take him very long to arrive their as he entered the entrance and saw a familiar face.

"Hey there Shizune! Is Sakura around?" Naruto asked brightly

"Hey Naruto! And yeah she is on the third floor working in ICU but it seems slow today she should be able to talk for a bit. I heard you were going to become a Jonin-sensei! Congrats." The young assistant to the hokage noted

"Thanks!" Naruto said

"I just hope you don't teach them to be as reckless as you!" Shizune teased

"hehe" Naruto said with a nervous laugh as he scratched the back of his head, "well see ya later! I have to talk to Sakura-Chan."

Naruto waved as he made his way through the building. He was not surprised to see many people with battle injuries throughout but was rather impressed at how minor most were. He made his way upstairs and then he realized how wrong his previous thought was as he saw the horrid injuries in the ICU. He tried to avoid focusing on this as this was not why he was here. He began to look around and then he saw a particular pink haired medic looking intently at a chart as she was explaining to what appeared to be an intern what needed to be done on what patients. She handed the chart off and looked up and saw the young blonde approaching her.

"Hey their Sakura-Chan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hey Naruto what are you doing here?" Sakura asked.

"I needed to ask you something." He said, "what do you think about me becoming a Jonin-Sensei?

"Lady Tsunade said she had offered the job to you, honestly I think you would make a great sensei as long as you don't act like to much of a child around you team!" Sakura reassured the blonde as she giggled at the thought of guenin running around acting like Naruto.

"I've matured a lot!" Naruto argued

"Sure Naruto! Just don't go and get to grown up on me you wouldn't be the same." Sakura continued to laugh as thoughts of him leading his team on a prank mission to paint the town orange, "and please don't become Kakashi sensei if I catch you reading that trash I might have to kill you!"

"Yikes! Alright Sakura!" Naruto cringed at the thought of being beaten into oblivion by the pink haired kunoichi, "thanks for the support!"

"Anytime Naruto that's what friends are for!" she said happily, "well it was good seeing you but I have to get back to work mabey we can talk more later?"

"Well if you can I was going to do some training later today if you wanted to join?" Naruto asked.

"Sure I get off at 5!" she said as she began to walk towards a room, "see ya then!"

Naruto waved as he left. She walked into the room to find a curious Ino staring her down.

"Well this is interesting I thought Kakshi had starting using drugs when he said you two were getting close but now I'm starting to agree with him." She said teasingly

"Oh shut up Ino-pig! Were just friends!" She said deffensifly

"Oh please I saw that look on your face when you saw him! You know you like him!" Ino continued to pry.

"you don't know Anything!" Sakura said as her face became slightly pink.

"come on forehead!" Ino picked more, "If you don't like him mabey I should go for him."

"No way in hell would I let you!" Sakura shouted

"I thought you didn't like him" ino stated, "so why dose it matter?"

"I don't want you to get you claws in him!" she said, "who knows he might get something from you I just want to protect him."

"Fuck you." Ino replied.

"Love you too Ino-pig." Sakura chirped

Naruto was making his way to the academy as he thought of what kind of students they had now. He sure hoped he got a strong team but he also was aware that some just take some polishing before the truly become great. Though he wanted a strong team he was prepared to make a great ninja out of anyone that ended up on his team. He was also thinking of what kind of test he should give them until he had an idea. He quickly started making his way to the apartment of a particular lazy pervert that he knew well. When he arrived he knocked on the door and a white haired jonin answered with a look of true apathy on his face.

"Well isn't this a surprise, what can I do for you Naruto." Kakashi asked his expression lightning up as he talked

"I was wondering if I could borrow the bells." Naruto stated plainly.

"Well I guess It's only right for me to give them to you, I'm glad you decided to accept the hokage's offer, they have been passed down from student to sensei since the first hokage took on his first squade." He said as he took the bells out of his pocket, "I hope that you lead them to be a true team."

"Thanks Kakashi-Sensei! I was also wandering if you had any advice?" Naruto asked as he placed the bells into his own pocket.

"You have the genes of a true leader, more so than you know, just follow you instinct and you should be just fine." Kakashi said as he began to wave, "well I'll see you later I have some important task to complete."

"go on and read your smut!" Naruto teased as he left to go to the academy

Naruto quickly made his way through the village as he made his way to the academy. He stopped momentarily to reminisce as he saw the swing he once sat on still hanging in the same tree. _"I sure have come a long way since then" _Naruto thought to himself as he a familiar figure approached him.

"Well if it isn't the dead last prodigy himself! What are you doing here Naruto?" Iruka teased as he approached his old student.

"I was informed to tell you that I was becoming a Jonin-Sensei" Naruto stated.

"Well I must say I'm happy that you have made that decision! I actually have your teams roster already, lady hokage figured you would accept." The chunin teacher said as he handed Naruto a piece of paper.

"Anything you can tell me about them?" Naruto inquired as he looked at the piece of paper.

"The first one, Nito, she is very strong in ninjutsu and average in taijutsu and genjutsu, he also tends to be rather shy but he is a good kid, the second one, sanato, is a mini you, he is decent a ninjutsu and taijutsu but has no skill in genjutsu, and the last one is Migato, top of the class and very strong in ninjutsu and genjutsu with decent taijutsu, he is, well, arrogant." Iruka finished.

"Well this should be interesting to say the least." Naruto said, "Thanks Iruka-Sensei! When do I meet them?"

"Tomorrow, 12 o'clock sharp." He responded

"Well I look forward to it!" Naruto said with a grin on his face.

Naruto left and went on his way as he began to think of how he would train his new team. As he walked another thought came into his mind, his training date this afternoon with Sakura. He looked up at the sky and figured it was around 3 o'clock so he knew he had plenty of time to prepare. He was looking forward to spending time with Sakura but he wondered if she also enjoyed spend time with him. Sure they were friends but lately she had been acting weird around him and he just wasn't sure what it was. He decided to withdraw the thought as it gave him a headache trying to think about it. Jiraiya was right women are impossible to understand. He thought back on all the time they spent together and then became frustrated on how close they had become but was never able to make that leap. The time came and went as Naruto made his way to the hospital to meet Sakura. As he came to the entrance he couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. No not slightly extremely nervous and he had no idea why. This was no were near the first time the two had trained together so why was this time so different? He pushed these thoughts into the back of his mind and tried to gain his composure. He entered the hospital to find Sakura and Ino chatting with Shizune.

"Hey looks like Sakura's got herself a hot date!" Ino exclaimed causing both Sakura and Naruto to blush and Shizune to giggle.

"Shut Up Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted

"Calm down forehead! It's only a matter of time before you two start poping out kids!" Ino continued to rib as Sakura thought in horror of little Naruto's terrorizing the village.

"It's not like that! Come on Naruto let's get to training!" Sakura said grabbing Naruto's arm.

"Try not to have too much **Physical** Training you still have to come to work in the morning Forhead!" Ino laughed as Sakura went beat red and marched out the hospital.

After Sakura had time to calm herself the two made their way over to the memorial stone training ground. They walk in relative silence, except for when konohamoru came and challenged Naruto to a "sexy off" which Sakura preceded to punch Naruto the rest of the way to the training ground when he accepted the challenge.

"Gezz Sakura-Chan! What's the big deal?!" Naruto said tending to his wounds.

"It's degrading!" Sakura exclaimed, "anyway seeing as I was easily able to land a hit on you it's seems you need some work on your taijutsu."

The two began to spar as Sakura easily overpowered Naruto and threw him to the ground. She took some time to explain his weaknesses and the holes in his defenses. They continued to work on his combat skills for a few hours as Naruto slowly improved. After they finished Naruto began to show Sakura some of the Jutsu he had learned on his trip.

"You have deffinatly improved since you left but you have a way to go in hand to hand combat." She said calmly, "but when it comes to your ninjutsu I must say you've grown leaps and bounds ahead of me!"

"I know Ero-Sensei also suggested I try and learn a bit about nature affinity when I came back but I'm going to do that another day!" he said as he sat next to the small pond and whipped the sweat from his face.

"Yeah it's nearly dark I guess it's time we call it a day!" Sakura said as she helped Naruto back up.

"I'll walk you home!" Naruto busted out turning pink upon realizing what he said

"Well if you really want to we can talk about when the next time we can do this is it was fun!" Sakura said as she heated up a bit at the thought of him walking her home.

The two made their way to the Haruno home as they talked about helping Naruto on his nature affinity. They had discovered he had an affinity to wind after Sakura had gave him an affinity paper to test it. When they arrived they said their goodbyes as Sakura walked into her home and put her back up against the door.

"_What has gotten into me" _she thought to herself as the image of her blonde friend ran through her mind.

**And that's a wrap! Thanks again to everyone who read the first chapter it make me feel great that people are enjoying my writing! Hope you all like this one! As always fav/follow and feel free to review. If you have any suggestions on how I should develop Naruto's team please let me know. This is bb miller and I am going to sleep!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Thank y'all so much for supporting this story! Makes me feel a good bit better that people are actually enjoying these stories! I will not be updating as much now that I am starting college at LSU but I will try my best to keep the updates rolling in as much as possible! Again if you have any suggestions or anything they are all welcome. I'm happy there have yet to be any flames so please keep it this way I respect constructive criticism but not just story bashing! I do not own Naruto or anything except any OC's that I make along the way. Anyway let's get going with the story!**

Naruto was standing in the middle of Team 7's training ground as he began his usual warm up. He and Sakura had agreed to meet here at 7am, so he arrived at 6 in order to get his usual starting exercises done. First, he started off doing laps around the training ground, he usual did around 20. After he finished that, he began to do his sit-ups and push-ups, usually around 200 each. Once he finished his warm up, it was 10 minutes to 7, so he decided to work on his chakra control by jogging on the nearby lake until Sakura arrived.

Sakura got out of bed around 6:30 and made herself breakfast. Her mother sat down with her and noticed that she was lost in thought and had a feeling that it had to do with her latest training partner; she tried to comfort the young kunoichi.

"Thinking about him?" Sakura's mother asked.

"Huh? Oh umm..." Sakura blushed slightly, "no just thinking about our training session today!"

Sakura didn't know what she was thinking really, so many thoughts were running through her head the last few days that it just became a giant jumble.

"Hmm. Well you will see it eventually, you care for the boy you just don't know how much yet," her mother said receiving a blush from her daughter.

Sakura simply finished her meal and went back upstairs to get herself ready. She decided to wear her regular battle outfit; she spent 15 minutes fixing her hair. She went downstairs and said goodbye to her mother and started making her way towards the training ground. She took her time and attempted to get her thoughts straight. She had to admit she had grown much closer to Naruto since he had come back, but she couldn't see him being more than a friend. Sure he was handsome and was much more mature, but he was still Naruto.

"**He sexy and you know it!" **Sakura's inner self shouted to her.

"_Shut up! He's my best friend I just can't see him that way!" _she scolded her inner self.

"**When are you going to see that you are falling for him!? I mean he hot as hell and not to mention really strong!" **her inner self ranted

"_I know he's strong! I just don't know what to think right now!" _Sakura returned.

"**You'll see that I'm right!" **her inner self said is it returned to its silence.

Sakura continued walking as her thoughts became even more jumbled. Sure he was defiantly attractive maybe even hot. NO! This is Naruto I have to get ahold of myself maybe some training will get my mind off it. Once Sakura got ahold of herself to the best of her abilities and began making her way to the training grounds to go meet Naruto for their session today. She was leaving a bit early but figured she could have some time to stretch while she was waiting on Naruto to arrive. When she arrived she was about 10 minutes early but when she arrived she came to find Naruto working furiously through a set of push-ups. She stopped before entering the clearing and perched herself up on a nearby tree to watch. She was extremely impressed, to say the least, with how hard he was working and wondered how long he had been out here. She counted out around 160 pushups that he had done and watched as he proceeded to start jogging laps on the lake. Just before he started his jogging Sakura decided to make her presence known.

"Hey Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed catching Naruto's attention, "what'cha doing?"

"Oh just doing my warm ups!" he stated, "I was about to work on some chakra control by jogging on the lake."

"Mind if I join you? I don't really need to work on chakra control but a good jog might help me stretch out a bit." Sakura said with a bright smile.

"Sure! If you can keep up!" Naruto exclaimed as he took off on the lake.

Sakura stood there for a second until she realized she had just been challenged and like hell she was going to let Naruto win! She took off after him pumping some chakra into her legs to help her catch up. Naruto turned and saw Sakura quickly catching up to him. He thought about pumping some chakra into his legs to push him even further ahead, but he knew it wouldn't be fair given his reserves were leaps and bounds ahead of Sakura's. It didn't take long for Sakura to catch up with Naruto, but once she caught up she decided to stay in stride with him as to not expend any more Chakra before they actually started to train. After about 5 laps around the lake the both decided it was enough and made their way back to shore.

"So what are we working on today?" Sakura asked as she began to stretch.

Naruto stood there dumbly for a moment and stared at the beautiful girl in front of him. He was truly amazed at how sexy she really was. She was wearing a pair of black shorts and a sleeveless shirt that was just slightly too small for her defining her curves very well and showing some of her tone core. Sakura looked at him when he never responded and noticed that he was fixated on her and his face was turning light pink, making her blush as well. Once she fought off the blush she decided to tease him a little before snapping him out of his stupor. She turned around and spread her legs and began stretching. The shorts Sakura was wearing were made of form fitting material showing off her butt very well. She peered between her legs and looked at Naruto. She had to fight another blush when she saw some blood trickling down his face from his nose. When she figured she gave him enough, she walked over to him and gave him a "playful" punch to the face.

"Hey, pervert! I'm talking to you!" Sakura said

Naruto instantly went beat-red and was trying to find his words. Sakura had to fight the urge to die laughing seeing him in this dumbfounded state.

"I'm sorry Sakura-Chan, your just soo... well anyway I was thinking that maybe you could help me out with my taijutsu again and I could help you pick up a few ninjutsu and then next time we can work on our nature affinity together." Naruto said fighting back the blood that was rushing to his head.

"That sounds like a great idea! Why don't we start with taijutsu and after we can work on the ninjutsu!" Sakura exclaimed helping Naruto back onto his feet.

Naruto took a few steps back and got into a fighting stance. Sakura did the same except she pumped some chakra into her fist. When Naruto saw this the look on his face said "OH FUCK… IM DEAD!" but he tired to keep his cool.

"Alright lesson one, defense, you already know what happens if you get hit so I'll go slow at first so I can show you the best way to avoid damage, then I'm going to come at you with all I've got!" Sakura said as she began to throw punches at Naruto who had a very difficult time dogging and blocking.

Sakura stopped every now and then to give him a few pointers on how to doge and block effectively. After a few minutes Naruto began to catch on and was able to keep up with her. Sakura began to pick up the pace to see just how far she could push him. He began franticly dogging and block as best he could but Sakura was taking the advantage. It didn't take long for Sakura to find a weakness in his lousy defenses and thus landed a punch square in his gut sending him flying a few meter back.

"Well I'm impressed Naruto but you still have a long way to go!" Sakura said walking towards him.

"Thanks Sakura-Chan! But I'm still nowhere near you or bushy brows," Naruto said, "I forget how strong you are sometimes."

Sakura chuckled at this. She looked down her team mate and couldn't help but heat up a bit at his sweaty form. Naruto was shirtless showing off his tone build from years of training and wearing a pair of orange shorts. As Sakura began to examine him she felt herself beginning to heat up and was forced to turn away to hide her face from the blonde idiot.

"**That boy is sexy! What's wrong with you why can't you see it?!" inner Sakura screamed**

"_He's my best friend I just can't!" _Sakura berated her inner self as she tried to regain her composer.

Naruto looked at Sakura and saw that she seemed to be troubled. He was trying to figure out what was wrong. He didn't think he said anything to make her aggravated. He hoped that she still wasn't mad about him staring earlier. After a few moments Naruto decided to get up and make his way over to the pink haired medic. When he reached her he stood next to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Sakura-Chan, what's up?" Naruto asked.

"It's nothing Naruto… just a lot going through my mind lately." She stated trying to satisfy him.

"Well if you need to talk about it I'm here for you!" Naruto encouraged her with his signature foxlike grin.

"I know Naruto, thanks for that it means a lot." She said turning to him and giving him a friendly hug, "Anyways let's get started on our ninjutsu training!"

"Alright well first off I'm going to teach you the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.**" Naruto stated and began explaining how the jutsu worked.

After a few minutes Sakura was able to successfully create two clones. She was excited when she was finally able to perform the technique, but was disappointed on how few clones she had made.

"Sakura don't feel too bad about not making that many clones, I can make so many because I have extremely high reserves of Chakra." Naruto stated trying to comfort her slightly.

"I know it's still disappointing I can only make two." Sakura pouted.

"Well with you skills in medical ninjutsu this will allow you to heal three times as many people or have the shadow clones protect you while you heal any injured comrades." Naruto stated.

"Well that's true, anyway that spar took a lot out of me so I think its best we call it a day." Sakura stated as she began to walk towards the village.

"Ok then, I'll see you later I have to meet my guenin team at noon!" Naruto stated cheerily, "Hey Sakura can I ask you something?"

"Um... Sure." Sakura said nervously.

"Do you want to go get something to eat tonight? Not like a date or anything just as friends, ya know, so we can catch up on what been going on besides just this usual ninja stuff." Naruto stammered out quickly, "It's on me!"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Sakura said slightly disappointed for some reason.

"Awesome! So I'll meet you at your place at 8?" Naruto asked.

"Sure that's fine, where are we going?" Sakura asked.

"Anywhere you want!" Naruto exclaimed

"Ok I'll have to think about it but I'll know by tonight" Sakura said as she waved goodbye to her best friend.

Once Sakura was out of earshot Naruto began jumping for joy and running around the training ground like a little kid. He couldn't believe she agreed to go. He celebrated for a little while longer until a familiar face appeared behind him sporting his usually lazy demeanor.

"Well now for just a friendly dinner you seem to be really excited." Kakashi teased as he walked up behind Naruto, "you must be madly in love with her."

Kakashi eye-smiled as he saw Naruto instantly become beat-red and frantically wave his hands.

"It's not like that Kakashi-Sensei! I'm just exited to spend more time with Sakura-Chan!" Naruto said frantically

"Be in denial all you want the truth is the truth. Anyways I was watching y'all's little training session and I must say I'm impressed with how much you two have improved." Kakashi praised his former student.

"Thanks sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Well I came here to make sure you got to the academy on time to do your paperwork for your new team." Kakashi said calmly

"Like you ever cared about anything being on time!" Naruto exclaimed

"Well whatever you don't have to get to your team on time just the paperwork." Kakashi said.

"I was planning on it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"One more thing before you get on your way I really do wish you luck with your team and your friends Naruto I know you have feelings for Sakura it's no secret." Kakashi said, "Just try not to forget that first a foremost you guys are friends."

"Thanks sensei!" Naruto said as he began walking towards the village.

Naruto knew that he had some extra time before he got to the academy so he decided to take his time and really think about how he was going to test his team. He knew he was going to give them the bell test but was he going to be as hard on them as Kakashi was or was he going to ease up on them a bit and give them a better chance. "no" he thought he was going to push them to their limits he was going to make sure they knew what it really meant to be ninja. When he arrived at the academy he was greeted by a stack of paperwork and a laughing Iruka.

"What's so funny?" Naruto responded to his hysterical sensei.

"It's just funny to see you actually being responsible." Iruka got out before he started rolling again, "anyways your team is waiting in the room feel free to pick them up now or make them wait it's entirely up to you."

"I think I'm going to make them wait a bit and watch them to see just how good of a team they are." Naruto responded.

"Taking after Kakashi eh? Just don't kill them please we kind of need all the ninja we can get." Iruka said.

"Don't worry they will still be mostly alive when I'm finished with them!" Naruto said with his foxlike smile causing Iruka to become worried.

Naruto waved goodbye to his old teacher and made his way towards the classroom. He went to Kakashi's famous little hiding spot behind the blackboard so he could observe his team interaction with each other.

"This is going to take a long time..." Naruto thought to himself.

**Well guys sorry for the long wait but here it is! I know this isn't my best chapter but I'm trying to get everything laid out so I can really start with character development. I'm thinking that my next few chapters are going to be more detailed and a good bit longer. Anyway I have to get back to listening to my Psychology professor so hope you all enjoy!**


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